The Next Lady Knights
by Lady Alianne
Summary: There were the three girls mentioned in Squire who wanted to become knights. So this fic tells their story, told from the point of view of the two sisters. Follow their path as pages and squires as they strive to attain knighthood.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One

Elspeth of Veldaine slammed shut the lid of her trunk and grinned at her older sister, Fianola. "There! I'm all packed. And tomorrow we'll be leaving for Corus to become pages."

Fianola smiled at her sister, but her smile was nowhere as wide. "It is exciting. We'll learn and hopefuilly will someday become great knights like the Lioness and Lady Keladry."

"I can't wait, Fianola! Lady Keladry was so nice to us when we met her last year. And the advice she gave us was really useful." Elspeth trailed off and thought back to that time.

Fianola interrupted her thoughts. "Elspeth, do you know why Yvenne is going to be page as well this fall? She's more of the type that jumps around from woinderful idea to wonderful idea. When she was six, she wanted to join the Shang. Then when she was eight, she wanted to be part of the Queen's Riders. Then last year she thought becoming a knight was wonnderful. I expected she would have latched on to some other idea that she thinks is just as wonderful now."

Elspeth shrugged. "I guess meeting Lady Keladry last year made her serious about becoming a page and trying for her shield, Fianola."

The next day, the two girls set out for Corus with their parents and servant. The next afternoon, they arrived at the palace and were taken to the office of Lord Padraig ha Minch, the training master. "Fianola and Elspeth of Veldaine? I am Lord Padraig ha Minch, the training master. Are you serious about your desire to try for knighthood?"

"Yes, we are!" exclaimed Elspeth. "My lord," she hastily added.

"Fine then. The two of you will be expected to keep up with the boys. I will not favor you simply because you are female. If you are caught breaking the rules, you will given punishment. If a boy is in your rooms or vice versa, the door must remain open unless you have a chaperon. Your servant will not be considered a chaperon, how-"

Lady Cordelia of Veldaine interrupted, "Surely it's not necessary. My daughters are here to become knights, not flirt."

"Your elder daughter is almost thirteen," said Lord Padraig coldy. "There will be those who will think badly of her. And of her sister. Now, do you have a servant?"

"Yes, Elspeth and I are sharing one, my lord," responded Fianola. Lord Padraig nodded and told her and Elspeth the duties requried of them regarding their servant. Then they were dismissed and Salma, who was head of the servants for the pages, led the girls to their rooms.

"Here are your keys. And a copy each for your servant." Then Salma told them how to unlock their doors and window shutters. "Ever since the other pages ransacked Lady Keladry's rooms her first day, such measures have been necessary. Oh, Elspeth, you have the room Lady Keladry had when she was a page."

Elspeth and Fianola's parents wished them luck and bid them good-bye, then left. Fianola and Elspeth entered their respectice rooms and began the duty of unpackiong. After half a bell, Fianola entered Elspeth's room. "Everything seems well so far. Elspeth, you said that Yvenne's a page as well. Why-" A knock on the door interrupted her and she opened it to Yvenne of Rosemark, a blonde girl who was eleven like Elspeth.

"Yvenne!" exclaimed Elspeth. "It's so nice to see you again! Isn't this amazing?"

"Yes, it's wonderful," answered Yvenne, grinning. "Everything here is wonderful. We'll be training and someday become wonderful knights like the wonderful Lioness and the wonderful Lady Keladry."

"Is wonderful your word for the week, Yvenne?" askled Fianola with a laugh.

"Oh drat! I have to stop that. It makes me appear flighty and girl-like. You know, Lord Padraig gave me a look when I was in his office and asked if I really wished to be a page. He said I seemed more suited to learning at the convent and becoming a lady. Well, I swore then and there that I was going to prove him wrong. Not out loud, of course. Lady Keladry gave us advice and seemed to think we could succeed, so I'm sure we'll all do fine and become great knights like the Lioness."

After some more talk between the three, Lord Padraig asked all the pages to gather in the hall. The new pages had to introduce themsleves and sponsors would be assigned. Lord Padraig pointed to a nervous boy with dark brown hair and brown eyes. "Name and fief?"

"Adrian of Disart," he replied.

"Who will be his sponsor?" A tall third year page with blonde hair volunteered. He was Kylun of Irenroha, his cousin.

Next was Eric of Falcon's Reach and a fourth year named Markus of Blue Pines was his sponsor. Third was James of Nond and his sponsor was fourth year Nicolas of Legann. Fourth was Yvenne and her sponsor was second year Jasson of Conte, the youngest prince. There were surprised looks among most of the pages, as they hadn't expected the prince to sponsor one of the three girls. Next was Fianola and a third year page named Alan of Pirate's Swoop was her sponsor. He was the son of the Lioness and appeared to be about fifteen or sixteen. He apparently had started page's training a bit late, like Fianola.

Elspeth was last and her sponsor was a second year page named Stephan of Tirragen. She stifled an exclaimation of shock, for she had heard that Tirragen was a disgraced noble house as one Alexander of Tirragen had commited treason and tried to dispose of King Jonathan. Lord Padraig did not look happy at letting Stephan be Elspeth's sponsor, but as no other page had volunteered unless he was willing to break tradition and let Alan be sponsor to two first year pages, he had no choice but to allow it.

As the pages went downstairs for supper, Elspeth asked blunty, "Why did you volunteer to be my sponsor?"

"I suppose I did you no favors, since my stupid uncle decided to commit treason and blacken the family name," responded Stephan. "I hope you won't judge me for my name. Jasson and Alan didn't. In fact, Alan was willing to be my sponsor. You and your sister will be ostracized by many of the pages, who aren't willing to accept lady knights, despite the Lioness and Lady Keladry. Since I'm ostracized my many of the same pages, prehaps you will inderstand things. Now let's hurry down to supper."

Elspeth thought over what Stephan said as she followed him down to the mess hall.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

In the mess hall, Eslpeth, Fianola, Stephan, and Alan had a table to themselves, because none of the other pages would sit with them. Yvenne would have sat with them, but Jasson had chosen to sit with another group and so she had sit with her sponsor. After Lord Padraig had said grace and they all began eating, Stephan explained, "Jasson sits with different groups of pages at mealtimes so as to appear that he doesn't favor anyone. I heard his oldest brother Prince Roald did that too and I guess Jasson picked it up."

Alan said, "There are a couple of other pages who don't really mind having girls try for their shield, but I don't expect they'll be eager to flock to the two of you."

"Because of me," said Stephan glumly. "Alan and Jasson are the only ones willing to spend any time with me. Jasson because he spends time with all the pages and Alan because he doesn't automatically assume that because my uncle was a traitor I might turn out to be one as well."

Fianola looked sympathetic. "It's not your fault if your uncle turned traitor. No one should look down on you or avoid you for what your uncle did."

"It doesn't matter," spat Stephan. "Uncle Alexander disgraced the family name and now most of the pages expect that I'll either fail the Ordeal and prehaps be found dead like that Joren of Stone Mountain or I'll end up betraying the royal family. I decided to try for knighthood in hopes of clearing the family name. But I don't know if I'll ever succeed."

"Well, me and Fianola don't think like that," said Elspeth. "You're going to succeed and become a great knight, Stephan."

"Fianola and I," corrected Fianola. "Anyway, I'm sure the king doesn't blame you for what your uncle did. You'll prove yourself."

"Maybe he doesn't blame me," snapped Stephan, "but he's still taxing Tirragen, Malven, and Eldorne heavily and having them host the royal family and guests during Grand Progresses to keep us out of trouble. It's as if he expected us to plot treason if we weren't busy coming up with the money to pay for all those things. And when it's time for me to marry, I'll likely have to marry a girl from the Malven or Eldorne lines because no other noble family is going to want to marry any of their daughters to a traitor house."

"My mother would be willing if Alianne wanted to marry you, Stephan," said Alan.

Stephan shook his head and laughed. "Like your sister would want to marry me, Alan. She's three years older than me! And you told me that she's interested in spying like your grandfather Sir Myles." He and Alan changed the subject and began telling the two sisters about the classes and training.

After supper, King Jonathan came in and welcomed all the pages. He gave a speech, which Elspeth paid little attention to, and then all the pages were allowed to leave. Two pages stood in front of Stephan's door, sneering. "Well, well," said the dark-haired page. "The trash from a traitor house can't sponsor anyone except a girl."

The other page, who had dark blonde hair, looked at Elspeth. "And you're so pathetic that nobody was willing to sponsor you except for a traitor spawn. Why don't you just leave? Girls and traitors don't belong here."

"Oh shut up!" snapped Elspeth. "Stephan's much better than you! He doesn't go around insulting others. And just because his uncle was stupid enough to commit treason doesn't make Stephan any less a person! He's not a traitor and has no intention of becoming one. And I'm not leaving either! Lady Keladry proved that regular girls can make good knights and I'm going to be one!"

Fianola put her hand on Elspeth's arm. "Calm down before you lose your temper and get into a fight, Elspeth."

Stephan nodded. "I can defend myself, Elspeth. Leslan and Brandon, please move aside so I can go inside my room."

Leslan and Brandon exchanged looks, then said at the same time, "Not yet. We're not done with you."

Jasson appeared, with Yvenne behind him, and asked calmly, "What is going on? I hope you're not trying to start a fight, Leslan and Brandon. Do you want to be summoned into Lord Padraig's office for fighting on the first day?"

Leslan and Brandon exchanged looks again, then shrugged and walked away, but they both glared nastily at Stephan, then at Fianola, Elspeth, and Yvenne as they left.

Jasson sighed. "It would be nice if we could all get along. I don't blame you for your uncle's actions, Stephan." With a shake of his head, he left for his room.

Elspeth went to her room, wondering how Lady Keladry had dealt with annoying pages who had been against her training. _I should have asked her when I met her last year_, she thought. _Did she ignore them? She lived in the Yamani Islands for several years and Mama says the people there don't show their emotions. Lady Keladry could have ignored them and not shown what she felt. But I've heard that she also got into fights. Was it because the other pages teased her and said she didn't belong? Or was it for some other reason?_

Elspeth sighed and sat down on her bed with a book, deciding to take her mind away from such thoughts with some reading.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three

Fianola left her room for breakfast and slipped and fell on a puddle of dirty water outside her door. She would have changed, but that would have made her late for breakfast, so she decided to go down in her wet dirty breeches and hose. Lord HaMinch gave her a shocked look when she entered the mess hall. "Veldaine! What happened to your clothes?"

"I slipped on a puddle on my way down, my lord," responded Fianola calmly. Yvenne gave her a startled look and turned to whisper to Jasson, who frowned.

Lord HaMinch frowned. "Why did you not change then, Page Fianola?"

"Because I would have been late for breakfast and angered the other pages by making them wait." She did not bother to add that she would have also been given punishment work.

Lord HaMinch sighed. "Well, go and change now, Veldaine. You won't be in trouble for being late since you did show up on time first."

"Yes, my lord." Fianola bowed and left the mess hall to change, almost running into Elspeth and Alan, who had just arrived.

After breakfast, the pages went out to the stable, where the new pages picked out their mounts. Yvenne picked out a glossy golden-brown gelding that was slightly tempermental named Sapphire. Fianola decided on a silvery-white mare that was extremely sweet-tempered named Moonlight. Several of the pages managed to block Elspeth's way so that she ended up with a rather ugly-looking grayish gelding named Ashes. Fortunately, he made up for his looks with intelligence (though it could have been due to Wildmage at the palace), endurance, and speed, as she found out when all the pages had to practice their riding. The other pages had apparently focused on his looks and didn't want him for that reason.

Next came archery and Elspeth and Fianola did fairly well. They had practiced frequently at home, especially during the past year. Eric of Falcon's Reach, who wasn't as skilled, glared at the two sisters and Yvenne. A minute later, Fianola heard him whisper angrily to his sponsor Markus, "I wouldn't mind the girls being here if they weren't such show-offs."

Markus shrugged, glanced at the three girls, and said loudly, "Actually, I don't think they're show-offs. They're just showing Lord HaMinch their level of skill in archery like he asked. You are likely just jealous that you aren't so skilled in archery like they are. I can give you some pointers and lessons if you like."

Eric, face red, glared angrily at Markus and aimed for the target. In his anger, he did worse and completely missed the target, when before he had at least hit the target. Lord HaMinch tsked and walked over to him. "You aren't doing very well." He proceeded to correct Eric's grip and aim.

When archery was over, Eric confronted the three girls. "You three are show-offs! I at first didn't have any problems with girls becoming pages and all that, but now your showing off has chanegd my mind. Why don't you just leave and show-off elsewhere? Like at the convent. But then again, you probably don't have any lady-skills to show off."

Yvenne looked angry and was about to snap back when Markus grabbed Eric's arm and dragged him away. Elspeth sighed and said, "Just ignore him, Yvenne. Eric is probably jealous that we did better than him in archery, especially since we are girls. So he decided to vent his feelings by calling us show-offs and insulting us."

Following archery, the pages were taken to the practice yard where they were introduced to the Shang Horse and the Shang Wildcat. Elspeth was partnered Stephan, Fianola with Eric, and Yvenne with James of Nond. Eric did not look at all happy to be partnered with a girl and took out his anger by using his staff harder on Fianola. Fianola ignored his anger and blocked his staff.

During lunch, Markus, with Eric in tow, sat down at the same table as the two sisters and their sponsors. Eric, looking uncomfortable, muttered, "Sorry for yelling at you two."

"Apology accepted," answered Elspeth, smiling brightly.

Eric nodded and turned to Markus. "I've apologized now. Can we please sit elsewhere? I don't want to share the same table with the two girls and a traitor-sp-"

"Enough," snapped Markus. "I have no intention of sitting elsewhere, Eric. If you would like to break tradition and not sit with your sponsor during the first week, you may. I have no problems with female pages. Or with people who unfortunately have relatives that were traitors." He turned to Stephan. "I'm sorry for ignoring you in the past. I didn't really want to be ostracized by my friends for spending time with you. But since it's my last year as page, I decided to get to know you before I become a squire and not be around as much."

"But you apparently have no problem with being ostracized by your friends now," said Fianola skeptically, not completely trusting Markus.

He nodded. "I am going to be a knight and knights can't decide to do things just based on what others will think of them. I can't decide to not help commoners just because other nobles may scoff at such an idea and think I'm being too soft with them, for example. Oh, my friends don't have anything against lady knights, Fianola and Elspeth, but I don't think they'll be spending much time with you because of Stephan. If somebody else had sponsored you, Elspeth, then it would have been a different matter."

The conversation ended, due to the fact that Lord HaMinch was about to say grace. After lunch, classes began. The reading class was boring, mostly due to the teacher, a Mithran priest. Math was better, especially as Elspeth and Fianola were fairly good at math and found it mildly interesting. History was taught by Sir Myles, Alan's grandfather (and the Lioness' adopted father), and he made the subject interesting. After was science taught by Master Lindhall Reed, a mage. He was an interesting teacher and the sisters learned much about animals and plants from him.

Fianola, who had the Gift, went to a class to train those with the Gift, even though hers wasn't very strong and limited to lighting fire and very weak protection circles. Elspeth and Yvenne didn't have the Gift, so they took the class on Immortals, taught by Tkaa, a bailisk.

When classes were over, the pages had supper, and then went to work on their homework. Fianola, Elspeth, Yvenne, Jasson, Alan, Stephan, Markus, and a very unwilling Eric met in the library to do their work together. Eric seemed to have gotten over his jealously over the afternoon and dinner, but he still wasn't accepting of Stephan and that was the reason for his reluctance. They were soon joined by Nicolas of Legann, Markus' best friend, and his charge, James. Nick had a whispered discussion with Markus, then turned to Stephan and apoligized for ignoring him in the past. James did not look very comfortable at the idea of studying with Stephan, but after Alan and Jasson pointed out that just because Alex of Tirragen was a traitor didn't make his relatives traitors, James gave in. They all worked together until the bell rang for the pages to go to bed.


End file.
